About 150,000 people were seeing three livestreams including the phoney Musk at the time of the event. How many of these viewers were actual vs bots used to increase audience count is yet unknown. The stolen channel still showed the verification tick for the 7News YouTube channel even after connections to it were severed.

Response and Investigation by Seven Network

A Seven Network spokesman informed The Sydney Morning Herald that the firm knew of the unusual behavior on certain of its YouTube channels. “Seven is investigating and working with YouTube to rectify the matter as quickly as possible,” the spokesman stated.

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With the stated addresses containing just over $11,000 in total, the crooks’ website sought numerous cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and Dogecoin.

Scammers’ Use of Musk’s Image

Frequent targets for fraudsters using Elon Musk’s image to give their operations legitimacy include More than thirty-five YouTube livestreams of bogus Musks pushing related frauds earlier this month aligned with SpaceX’s Starship rocket launch. Recently, Hong Kong’s securities regulator closed a company claiming to have created the technology for AI crypto trading using AI-faked footage of Musk on its social media profiles and website, thereby misrepresenting him.

Incident Timing and Broader Context

The assault on 7News’ YouTube account happened the same week that The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian announced on June 24 that Seven West Media, the parent company of Seven Network, will lose 150 positions, including those in marketing roles.

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